When it “IS” It Pours!
- Posted by: Joe Williams
As a result of the Dialogue story by Wendy Cherwinski (see “Looking for Learning in all the Right Places” below), several alums have sent in their stories as well. I thought you might be interested in how others are using the tools and in how the desert is still part of their lives. The value of sharing lives on.–Joe
Deb Gondek, Rich Products, experiencing the power of ‘join-up’ during the nonverbal communication clinic during the Dialogue Master Class, 2007.
“I’ve been “is-ing” quite a bit lately using the strategic planning tools from Dialogue and from our business planning process here at Rich’s. Not just at work, but outside as well. For the past year or so, I’ve been a member of the Niagara County Environmental Committee (home of Love Canal, so as you can imagine we have our work cut out for us!). It’s a very passionate group of environmentalists with a lot of knowledge about our natural resource inventory, renewable energy, waste management, land use, Lake Ontario fishery activities, native vegetation, etc. However, we haven’t been able to harness all that expertise, and have accomplished very little in our advisory role to the county legislature and have only made incremental progress in our public education & outreach efforts. Oh, and did I mention that absolutely no one wants to collaborate with us on environmental issues because some of our more vocal members in the past have given the group a reputation of putting up roadblocks without providing alternate solutions!
“At the end of last year I was reflecting on all this and came to the conclusion that I either needed to resign from the council and spend my time on others things that are making a difference … or lead them in a strategic planning session. So I figured, what the heck? Why not see if the group would be up for a little long-range planning. The newer members were all for it; some of the “lifers” on the council looked at me like I had 2 heads & it was clear they’d never experienced the benefits of strategic planning sessions. But in the end most everyone agreed that dedicating our meetings in Feb and March to planning sessions would be a good start. We’re in the home stretch now and I can’t tell you what a transformation it has been. The entire process has generated meaningful dialogue among the group and helped us prioritize our areas of focus. It started with a review and refresh of our by-laws (which, honestly, I didn’t even know existed before this). We’ve even engaged members of the team who were on the fence as I was … and developed a liaison with the County Legislature so we now have ongoing 2-way dialogue with them. And we haven’t even completed our planning document yet!
“Yesterday, I kicked off the strategic planning process for the Buffalo Ronald McDonald House. Our green team at St Christopher’s Church wants to go through the process as well. Wow! When it “is” it pours!
“Just wanted to say thanks. The gift of Dialogue just keeps on giving!”
–Deb Gondek
LEED AP
Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design
Accredited Professional
Director of Sustainability
Rich Products Corporation
dgondek@rich.com
